UK becomes 74th signatory to Safe Schools Declaration

At an event held at the Royal Aeronautical Society and hosted by the UK foreign and commonwealth affairs office last Thursday, Britain’s foreign secretary Boris Johnson announced that the UK will become the 74th signatory to the Safe Schools Declaration. It is a strong show of leadership on protecting education in conflict situations made during the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

This is welcome news for campaigners from Send My Friend to School, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, Save the Children, TheirWorld, Plan UK, Human Rights Watch, Global Citizen, the Malala Fund and others, who have been urging the UK government, over the past four years, to join 73 other countries, including Canada, France and New Zealand, as signatories to the Declaration.

The foreign secretary met with young campaigners and advocates from the coalition of organizations to acknowledge over 25,000 actions taken and support from students at over 900 schools across the UK in support of the declaration.

The Safe Schools Declaration was launched by the Governments of Argentina and Norway and this commitment serves as an official assurance that the UK will condemn attacks on schools, protect education during armed conflict, take concrete steps to deter the military use of schools and universities, using the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use During Armed Conflict, and offer supervision, services and teaching to save children’s lives.

The UK’s commitment to implementing the Declaration will be just as critical as signing up and advocates look forward to seeing the UK government take concrete steps to make it less likely that students, teachers, schools and universities will be attacked in coming months.

Advocates also hope the UK’s commitment will encourage other Commonwealth countries, like Australia, Malawi and Bangladesh, and G7 leaders, like Germany, Japan and the United States, to sign up to the Declaration to help every child stay safe in their place of learning.

Lily Stevens, Send My Friend to School Campaign Champion, aged 14, Alun School said: ‘The signing of the declaration today is a huge positive step forward for the 246 million children who experience some form of school violence - I have been campaigning alongside thousands of young people across the UK to #MakeSchoolsSafe because no child should be denied the right to education. By signing, the UK will be the 74th country to endorse the declaration and we hope that our Government will encourage as many other states to sign as possible.’

Madge Thomas, director of global policy and government affairs at Global Citizen, said, ‘In a week of military action that is drawing global attention, it is important to remember the innocent human lives that suffer in times of conflict. It’s critical that the UK chose the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to announce it will be the 74th country to endorse the Safe Schools declaration to help protect children from becoming collateral damage in conflict-affected areas, safeguarding their right to learn.

Ben Hewitt, Theirworld Director of Campaigns and Communications, said, ‘Every child has the right to go to a safe school without fear of attack. The UK signing the Safe Schools Declaration along with 73 other countries is an important step in the campaign to make sure schools are never used for military purposes.’